Maybe
by Airew Confetti
Summary: Perhaps she'd smile once more, for his sake. One-shot.


_Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters from this piece of fiction; they belong to Kishimoto Masashi, mangaka of Naruto. _

* * *

He knows of the bullying that would take place after school.

He knows of the same verbal taunts and teases that they would use on the girl- their sole target and victim.

Each time he, Sasuke Uchiha, would wonder briefly; very briefly, on whether he should play the role of the girl's saviour.

He would decide against it. It wasn't in his character to be nosy, even though curiosity was rearing its ugly head every so often.

Besides, she ought to stand up for herself.

And his mind would end its inner-turmoil with that thought.

* * *

Sasuke reaches school early today. Pushing the sliding door aside quietly, he enters his class, and moves towards his seat without observing his surroundings. As he sits upon his chair, he realises that he is not the only one in class.

He notices the girl- Hyuga Hinata- seated at her desk at the front of the class, head facing downwards, as if apologising.

He gets up, and saunters towards her noiselessly. He shoves his right hand into his pocket; he wants to appear casual. He is not concerned over her present state and inner-pain.

"Hyuga," Sasuke greets monotonously. Curiosity was biting at him; he couldn't resist its temptations any longer. "Why don't you stand up for yourself."

He knew he had asked about it like a simple statement; a statement of truth. Sasuke knew. He understood that people, regardless of their age, would stand up for themselves.

Even the most _moronic_ of people, he agreed, would stand up for themselves.

Her head shoots up immediately, almost as if she was brought back to reality through his words. Hinata turns towards Sasuke slowly; he silently wonders if it was because she had tears on her face.

Opalescent orbs burning with determination were not what he had expected to see. Sasuke spots a purplish bruise that stood out on her pale arm, and knows that the bullies had advanced from mere teasing to more serious, physical bullying.

He feels something burn within him as he thinks of the pain she would have to bear in the future, but retains his composure. After all, he does not care for her.

He waits patiently for Hinata to reply.

"I…" Her soul, previously fueled by a strong, strong determination falters with each passing second. Her eyes avert his hypnotic black ones as they dart towards the floor. He probably didn't know just how… suffocating it felt to have twin abysses staring at you.

"We all… all need a… an outlet for… for anger….. I just… happened… to be it…"

He does not know how to react to this.

Should he laugh, or should he frown? He wasn't sure. Sasuke was momentarily overtaken with consternation, before he decides to opt for a look of slight disbelief, and silence.

Hinata smiles kindly at him, her eyes shining with slight amusement. Her lips part as she mouths "Thank you", before taking up the decision of gazing at the fluffy white clouds.

He returns to his seat, just before the spell of serenity was broken. He could hear the loud clamouring of students heading toward their classes.

He notices a flash of pink and yellow barging into the class, instantly gluing themselves close to him. He remains apathetic to their actions as he reaches out into his bag, holding up an English book that he had been trying to decipher, since it was mandatory for him to be even better in his subjects.

…Although he had no real clue as to what the plot was about.

He flips to the page which he had previously stopped at, and starts to read, but ultimately fails to do so. With that, he peers at the Hyuga girl once more, his smirk obscured by the book.

Sasuke wasn't sure what possessed him to have such a resolve, but he wants to protect that girl from harm.

Just to protect that smile; which reminded him so much of the better times in the past, when his Mother would ruffle his hair, a smile playing at her lips, without the looming shadow that was his Father.

That smile, which resembled **_so_** much like his Mother's.

Sasuke hopes that he would be able to see that smile again.

* * *

First piece of fanfiction here. Please do drop me a few pointers on how to improve in my writing.

I know my vocabulary's terribly lacking, and that I can't describe things well... It was intentionally written in present-tense, so you don't have to tell me about that.


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